A shop-bought sandwich a day (or soup, sushi, salad - whatever tickles your taste buds) adds up to one seriously hefty bill over a working lifetime. £18,000 to be precise, according to a recent survey.
And that's if we spend a reasonably restrained £4.50 on our mid-day meal, though many of us set no budget at all. Add to that those morning lattes and an afternoon popcorn pick-me-up and the numbers sky-rocket.
If that's enough to make you look at your Posh Cheese and Pickle baguette with new-found disdain, then you might want to give our money saving meal plan a whirl.
Andre Dupin - top chef at L'atelier des Chefs cookery school - shows us how to make five recipes from one core ingredients list.
All you need to make lunch for the week is two hours and £15. So what are you waiting for?
Dig out from your cupboard:
175g basmati rice
Glass of white wine
Plain flour
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
A whisk and a food processor
The secret to blitzing your lunches (and still fitting in that Come Dine With Mere-run)? Prep. Nail these tasks first - then use them like a food capsule wardrobe.
Boil 350g new potatoes for 20 minutes
Boil 100g rice for 15 minutes
Boil 2 eggs for 7 minutes
Cook 1 salmon fillet in the oven for 8 minutes
Chop your veg: onion, courgette, mushrooms, garlic
Beat 1 egg
Then cook these dishes, and there you have it: a week of ready-made lunches sitting in your fridge.
New potato, bacon and egg salad with watercress
70g bacon l ½ the boiled potatoes l 1 boiled egg
1 bunch watercress l Olive oil l ½tsp mustard l Lemon l Pepper
Fry the bacon until crispy, then mix with the chopped, boiled potatoes, the chopped, boiled egg and the watercress. For the dressing: whisk together the olive oil, mustard, a squeeze of lemon and black pepper, to season.
Watercress soup
1 bunch watercress l ½ an onion l 1 clove garlic l Glass of white wine
250ml vegetable stock l 50g boiled potatoes (about a quarter of what's left)
Separate the watercress leaves from the stalks. Fry the onion until transparent, then add the garlic, watercress stalks and wine. Simmer until the liquid reduces to a third, then add the vegetable stock and potatoes. Blitz in a food processor until smooth, add the watercress leaves, and blitz again. Pass through a sieve and season.
Salmon fish cakes
150ml milk
1 uncooked salmon fillet
The remaining boiled potatoes
1tsp mustard
1tbsp tartare sauce
Lemon zest
Parsley
50g plain flour
Beaten egg
50g bread (broken up into crumbs)
Pour the milk into a frying pan, season and add the fish, skin-side down. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Once cooked, take off the skin and break the fish into flakes. Mash the potatoes and stir in the mustard, tartare sauce, lemon zest, parsley and fish. Season. Using floured hands, shape the mixture into two round fish cakes. Put the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs onto separate plates, and dip the fish cakes into each (flour, then egg, then crumbs). Fry for 3 minutes on each side.
Spiced salmon kedgeree
½tbsp curry paste
1 spring onion
Cooked basmati rice
1 cooked salmon fillet
1 chopped boiled egg
Juice ½ lime
Parsley
Heat some oil in a frying pan and stir in the curry paste until you can smell the aromas. Add the spring onion; once soft and brown, add the rice and quickly stir. Flake in the salmon and add the egg, lime juice and parsley.
Spicy vegetable and basmati rice laksa
½ onion l1tbsp curry paste l Mushrooms l Courgette
250ml milk l 75g rice (raw)
In a large pan, simmer the onion, curry paste and a splash of water for 5 minutes - then add the chopped vegetables, milk and rice. Simmer for 10 minutes until the rice is cooked.
Andre Dupin runs cooking courses at L'atelier des Chefs cookery school in London. Find out more at atelierdeschefs.co.uk
This feature first appeared in the April 2013 edition of GLAMOUR Magazine.
